Mightier than the Sword came about because, after I had done a book called Not One Damsel in Distress, which was world folklore about strong, young women, I had people saying to me, “But what about the boys?” So, I put together Mightier than the Sword, which is all about folktales from around the world in which boys manage to win whatever win the princess, or win the kingdom, or win the respect of their elders, or win the respect of their community but not by picking up a sword, not by destroying; but sometimes using their wits, or using their intelligence, or having good friends, because they’ve been a good friend.
And those were harder to find than the strong, young women stories. There are fewer of them. Many stories that begin with, “Once there was a young boy, and he was smart, and though his older or younger brothers weren’t
” And he manages to get up to the dragon, and at which point he takes out his sword and cuts off the dragon’s head. And of course I read hundreds of these stories, and I kept finding they went up to the moment of the denouement, and then he took out his sword and cut off the dragon’s head. So, it was harder to find stories that went all the way through with him not picking up the sword.
